5 Ways Remote Working is Impacting Mental Health and How to Help
Gemma Hart is an independent HR consultant working remotely from as many coffee shops as she can find. Gemma has gained experience in a number of HR roles but now turns her focus towards connecting with a wider community and sharing her thoughts and advice on workplace wellness and engagement within companies.
The number of people working from home has increased dramatically since the onslaught of the pandemic, which is understandable. However, while some people have taken to remote work like ducks to water, others have found it a real struggle.
While working from home does have a lot of benefits such as avoiding that daily commute, keeping your pets company, and raiding the cupboards for snacks any time of day, there are also plenty of drawbacks and some of these are significantly impacting our mental health.
In this article, we will be looking at the impact of remote working on mental health and the steps you can take to help.
Social Isolation
Working from home can mean that there are some days when you don’t step outside of your front door once. You stay wrapped up in your dressing gown or wearing your most comfortable sweatpants and you don’t interact socially with anyone. While this was a relief for some initially, after a couple of weeks the social isolation began to set in and reports of mental health struggles began increasing.
Working remotely means you lack the daily interactions, from chats over coffee to team meetings, that those working from the office partake in. This can cause feelings of disconnectedness which can have a negative effect on your mental health, causing symptoms of anxiety and depression that may impact your quality of life. As such, it is important to be proactive and take steps to reduce your social isolation and strengthen your mental health.
How to Reduce Social Isolation
There are a number of ways you can fight feelings of loneliness and social isolation, but we think the most important is to prioritize social interactions during the week that get you out of the house and allow you an opportunity to talk with friends and family members.
Often, when you work remotely it can be easy for the lines between your work life and personal life to blur. Without the commute home or evening drinks with friends, it can be difficult to have that separation between working time and social time. And this can contribute to feelings of isolation and symptoms of mental health.
Be intentional about planning time with friends and family where you can share about your week, build relationships, and create a healthy distinction between your work life and your personal life.
Professional Burnout
Rather than commuting into the office and scheduling an in-person meeting to speak to the boss, everything work-related is just one click away. While this is convenient for employers hoping to get a head start on projects, this accessibility is causing 77% of US employees to experience professional burnout.
Burnout is where people feel emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted as a result of excessive or prolonged stress. Unfortunately, it seems that remote working and burnout go hand in hand as those working from home struggle to maintain a healthy work schedule and find it increasingly difficult to separate their home life from their work life. This is particularly true for workers who don’t have a separate area to work from, such as a spare bedroom or a garden office and are instead working from the kitchen table or the bedroom.
Burnout negatively impacts your mental health. It leaves sufferers feeling exhausted, helpless, and empty. And these negative feelings can, sadly, spill over into every other aspect of your life – from your personal relationships to your social life. So, it’s important to take precautions and do what you can to reduce the effects of burnout while you are working from home.
How to Reduce Professional Burnout
We could write a whole article about professional burnout and how to reduce the symptoms. However, for now, we will just share the number 1 tip recommended by the experts and that is to learn how to manage your stress.
You will be faced with stressful situations throughout your life, that’s just a fact. So, you need to learn how to manage your stress if you want to prevent burning out every time you are faced with a high-stress scenario.
A few great ways to manage stress include relaxation techniques, practicing deep breathing, putting organizational strategies in place, and exercising regularly to reduce tension. Although it might seem like a lot of work, learning how to manage stress is the key to healthy wellbeing. By monitoring your reactions to stress, you can prevent burnout and live a happier, healthier life.
Many people assume that because you work remotely you can take time off whenever you want.
GEMMA HART
Lack of Quality Rest
Have you found that working from home has disrupted your sleep and made it harder for you to relax in the evenings? There is nothing like that feeling of finishing work in the office on a Friday and heading home for the weekend. Kicking off your shoes when you get in and jumping onto the sofa to binge the latest Netflix series feel great when you haven’t been home all day. But what happens when you’re at home all the time?
If you struggle to get a quality night’s sleep, you are not alone. In fact, it is estimated that sleep deprivation affects one-third of American adults. Unfortunately, sleep deprivation can negatively impact mental health. According to The Sleep Foundation, “while the short-term impacts are more noticeable, chronic sleep deprivation can heighten the long-term risk of physical and mental health problems.”
How to Get Better Rest
So, how do you sleep better when you work remotely? One of the most important ways to get a better night’s sleep is to switch off your electronic devices at least twenty minutes before your head hits the pillow.
TVs, tablets, laptops, and cell phones over-stimulate the mind and this can leave you too awake to fall asleep. So, if you’re someone who works late into the evening or who checks emails right before bed, it’s best to avoid this. Working from home makes it tempting to check-in on your projects at all times of the day (or in this case, the nighttime) but this can make it hard for your body and mind to decipher between working time and being alert and rest time and winding down. Creating boundaries helps your body to develop a rhythm and learn to rest when you need it to.
Feeling Out of Control
One thing that seems to affect remote workers a lot is feeling out of control. If you have been instructed to work from home, whether as a result of the pandemic or your company’s new work policies, you may feel out of control of your own decisions more than usual.
Many people working from home have to deal with daily interruptions they wouldn’t need to deal with in the office. These could include anything from kids coming home sick from school, the postman delivering parcels, workmen in the house or surrounding area, disruption from pets or neighbors, and so much more. On top of this, employees are expected to get their work done and continue performing their job at a high level.
Lack of control is one of the many ways remote working is affecting people and it is also a factor in burnout. When individuals feel out of control, they can feel like everyday tasks are a burden and the things they once did without thinking, like driving to the shops or taking out the rubbish, can feel anxiety-inducing. Feeling out of control is a common symptom of anxiety and a common result of working from home for extended periods of time.
How to Regain Control
In order to regain some control of your life and working situation, it can help to schedule your time. Set clear hours when you will be working, optimize your to-do list of the tasks you want to achieve, and schedule time off when you can properly rest and relax.
Organizational strategies can be extremely helpful for those struggling with symptoms of anxiety and can help you feel more in control of your life on a daily basis.
Lack of Boundaries
While working from home does have its benefits, certainly one of the most negative aspects of this new arrangement is the lack of boundaries you may experience.
Despite the fact, you work a full-time job and your employer expects your projects to be delivered on time, your friends and family members may not understand. So, they might turn up in the middle of the day for a cup of coffee and a chat or they might invite you to a social gathering at like 2 ‘o’clock in the afternoon. Don’t they get it?
The simple answer is that, no, they don’t. Some people just don’t understand how remote working works. They don’t understand that you have to log in and work from 9am until 5pm and that you can only take an hour for lunch.
Many people assume that because you work remotely you can take time off whenever you want. But this simply isn’t true. For many people working from home, this lack of boundaries can be particularly stress-inducing and it can be difficult to know what action to take.
How to Set Boundaries
Setting clear boundaries, both for yourself and those around you, is a great way to protect your mental health and avoid feeling overwhelmed. A great way to set boundaries is to be clear about your working schedule and avoid answering your phone to personal texts or calls during set hours.
It might sound extreme, but setting boundaries like this can be a helpful way to let people know they cannot contact you at certain times of the day. Not only will this allow you to work in peace, but it will hopefully help your friends and family members adjust to the fact that you have a job just like everyone else and that it works in the same way as everyone else; the only difference being you work from home. Setting expectations in this way will help create healthy boundaries so that you can meet your work demands, socialize with your friends and family, and protect your mental health.
Final Words
We hope you have found this article encouraging and informative. Mental health is a huge struggle for remote workers, but there are steps you can take to keep your mind strong and your outlook positive.
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